This
email has been posted with the permission of the author.
From:
Michael McPherson
To: Jeff
Gray - Globe & Mail
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 9:54 AM
Subject:
Speed Hump Democracy
Greetings Mr. Gray:
I applaud your call for street hump democracy, but I suggest there
is an obvious corollary: St. Clair West street car democracy.
I propose that there should be a vote held in all the wards that
encompass St. Clair West before the TTC be given the go ahead
to reserve two lanes of St. Clair for the street car. This is
a much bigger issue than a couple of speed humps, and the decision
shouldn't be left to a few unelected bureaucrats in the TTC.
I'm against the reserved right of way because (as you state in
your article today) stop and start traffic creates considerably
more pollution than moving traffic. The TTC plans to cut St.
Clair's capacity in half. Mitch Stambler of the TTC says this
(the reserved right of way) will help "with our Kyoto Protocols".
Clearly this is a misguided statement at best. The local pollution
will increase.
The spill-over traffic into neighbourhoods like mine will put
children at risk. The combat this the city will need to construct
thousands of more street humps, resulting in more pollution as
congestion-raged drivers accelerate wildly between the humps.
There are many other reasons this right of way shouldn't go through
(the TTC's assault on ethnic small business is certainly cause
for concern). It seems irresponsible that the TTC is proposing
to spend (they say) an extra twenty-five million dollars at a
time when they're proposing to raise fares to combat a forty million
dollar deficit in their budget. Will increasing fares help us
"reduce our car dependency" (I'm quoting Mitch Stambler again)?
I promise to sit down and shut up if a majority of residents vote
in favour of the proposed right of way. I challenge David Miller
to turn his back on TTC back room deals and let the public decide.
Thank you for your time.
Michael A. McPherson
Editor's
note : The facts and opinions expressed in the above email are
those of the author and do not represent the views of MyStClair.com.
Our interest remains to act as a conduit for information regarding
matters relating to neighbourhoods along St Clair Ave W and the
Ridge. Anyone wishing to comment is encouraged to do so.
editor@mystclair.com
